Shiloh

Last night we had the joy of having little Shiloh here for several hours!!! Yipeeeeee! Her Mommy and Daddy both were busy, so they asked us to babysit her for the evening. OF COURSE, we've LOVE to! :) During the time she was here, I was struck by two things:

a) How much she's grown and how much we love her! :) She's almost 2 months old and she's already changed so much since she was here right after she was born. It's amazing to watch her develop -- her eyes now follow you as you move and talk. She has the most adorable cooing/talking/singing combination. Just makes us laugh! She'll just go on and on with this wide range of octaves! It's hilarious! It was so much fun to get to hold her, cuddle her, and love on her!

b) It's sure a lot easier 'the second time around'! LOL What I mean by this is.....I remember when our boys were little and I was a young, new Mommy. I really had no clue what I was doing, ya' know?! I keep apologizing to Bren and telling him he's our 'guinea pig'! LOL But, seriously -- I was so uptight about doing this or that 'just right', especially with Brennan. He was a fussy baby and I was often overwhelmed and stressed and didn't have a clue how to meet the needs he had because I couldn't quite figure him out. With Nate things were much better as we learned the importance of a schedule! :)

But, it was funny last night because not only were we watching Shiloh, but Steve had invited 2 of his co-workers over for supper. Great...not a problem, right? I mean, all Shiloh does is sleep, how hard can it be to get supper and watch her? LOL DUH.........uh, Debi -- she is 2 months old, not 1 week! LOL AND.........she wanted to be held the ENTIRE time I was trying to get supper together! And, of course -- Steve was late getting home and the boys were gone. HMMMM.....

So, here I am, trying to hold Shiloh and get a supper of spaghetti and sauce, green beans, garlic bread, salad, & brownies together. At first I was a bit 'stressed', but then I just began to relax and enjoy the process -- I mean, so what if the food doesn't get on the table right away? And, I just settled down and just enjoyed Shiloh. Did what I could, but stopped stressing about what I couldn't get done........like opening the cans of green beans, or trying to get the garlic bread in the oven........and I began to laugh and just enjoy being 'in the moment' with this precious little girl, who was rescued from a possible abortion and brought into life and a forever family.

And, pretty soon -- Steve came home, the boys came home, and I began giving orders! LOL They all eagerly chipped in and we got things on the table and everyone loved it. And........I enjoyed Shiloh in the process!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually.........we ALL enjoyed her! :)

Although really a great baby, she was kinda fussy last night -- she's just getting a bit 'over stimulated' and needs to sleep more. She's such an ALERT baby and just doesn't want to miss any of the action, so she'll stay awake forever to not miss one thing! LOL It's so cute.....her little wide-eyes and cooing. But, then she'll cry 'cause she's tired, but doesn't want to sleep. The only way I could get her to sleep was to stand up and slowly bounce/hold her. Then she's konk out! LOL

And, last night I was talking to Kristi, who is kind of frustrated with not knowing how to get the schedule/sleep pattern down. She adores Shiloh and wants to try to figure out how to best help her, and them, get some more sleep! :) And, it was so interesting in talking to her to be taken back to when I was a new Mommy and feeling the exact same way! Shiloh reminds me of Brennan sooooooooooo much!!!! And, then to see the difference last night -- I wasn't 'rattled' at all by her being fussy. I knew why she was and it just was what it was. I just rocked her, held her, and loved on her. It wasn't hard at all. And, I couldn't help but think to myself and then say to Steve, "My....how life has changed." And, I realized how much you relax over time! I wasn't uptight or whatever.....I was relaxed and just was ok with where she was at last night.

It was so much fun to realize how much I've changed and how much I loved just 'being' last night and not being uptight and so stressed. I just so remember those early days with Brennan and how hard they were, so it was fun to get to just love on little Shiloh and realize....I must be getting older because things just don't bother me as much! LOL

Any other 'older' Moms feel like this? It's just kind of a wierd change -- and I love it! :)